New sport : Hotel bed jumping

New photo sport, hotel bed jumping. Bring funny props and jump away! Ali and I had some fun last night.

Texas Open Spiel

Wen to Houston this past weekend to visit my sister-in-law and to participate in the Texas Open Spiel. First time curling on hockey ice. Yuck. The only way to get it to the tee line was to push out from the hack as hard as I could and then give the rock a shove.

Also toured NASA which was really cool. More photos to come.

April Spiel 2010!

April Spiel 2010 is in full swing at the Seattle Granite Curling Club.

My team is in the sweet, sweet B bracket. We had a 2 pm draw on Friday, a 4 am draw on Saturday, a 10 am draw on Saturday, and then a 27 hour wait until the 1 pm draw on Sunday.

Update: Won the B bracket!!

Black Forest Cupcakes

Ingredients:
15 oz can pitted cherries (sweet) in syrup
4 oz bittersweek (dark) eating chocolate, coarsely chopped
5 1/2 oz butter, coarsely chopped
11 oz (aka1 1/3 cup) of superfine (castor) sugar
2/14 fl oz (aka 1/4 cup) cherry brandy
5 oz (aka 1 cup) all-purpose plain flour
2 tablespoons self-rising flour
1 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 egg

decoration
2/3 cup thickened cream, whipped
2 tsp cherry brandy
Shavings of bittersweet dark eating chocolate.

1. Preheat oven to 335 degree F
2. Line a 12 cupcake pan, with cupcake papers
3. Drain cherries and reserve the syrup
4. Take 1/2 cup of cherries and 1/2 of syrup and process in a food processor until smooth.
5. Cut the remaining cherries in half and reserve. Discard the remaining syrup
6. Place the chocolate, butter, sugar, brandy, and cherry puree into a saucepan. Cook over a low heat. Stir until chocolate and butter has melted.
7. Pour into a large bowl and allow to cool for 15 minutes.
8. Sift flours and cocoa.
9. Whisk in sifted flours and cocoa.
10. Whisk in egg.
11. Divide mixture evenly between cupcake holes. You will probably find that they fill the cases close to the top. (don't worry, they don't rise a lot)
12. Bake for 40-45 minutes until firm to touch
13. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

Decorate
1. allow cupcakes to cool completely.
2. Mix brandy into the whipped cream
3. Top each cake with some of the remaining cherry halves
4. Top each cake with some of the cream
5. Using a vegetable peeler, scrape along side a block of chocolate to create curls. Sprinkle on each cake.

This recipe comes from http://www.cupcake-creations.com

Curling season is almost over!

So close to being over.

Last night was the last women's league draw. My team won "crystal" in the A bracket. We played with three, as my skip had an emergency at work. We were ahead going into the 6th end. I turned around after delivering my first rock to find that the Lead of the other team had fallen. She had cracked her noggin a good one, but was refusing medical assistance. She was escorted into the warm room area. We finished the end and with her teammates distracted we scored two.

Our team decided it just wasn't right, and offered to shake, split the points with a tie. To play when the other team is distracted over a team mate just isn't in the spirit of curling. However the league manager said because the game affected other standings we weren't allowed to tie. I am still disappointed about this decision.

I've got one more league game to play on the Sunday Mixed League. This game is also for crystal. We would have played last Sunday, however the Clark rink was busy winning the Mixed Nationals title for the 7th time in 9 years.

I have 4 bonspiels across three weekends in April left. Two weekends from now, I am playing in the Seattle April Spiel. The following weekend I'll be in Texas for the Texas Open Spiel. The weekend after that, I'm the 5th man for the San Francisco PIC team. However, I ended up being over committed and will be coming back the same weekend to play in the Last Chance spiel with my hubby Jer and my coworker Alex.

Busy times.

Quote of the day

From Kim W.'s facebook page, this helped put me in a better mood.

"Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing." --Helen Keller

Woohoo, a mellow weekend!

The first mellow non-curling weekend in a very long time.

Yesterday, Jeremy, Joel, and I went to Market House Corned Beef located 1124 Howell Street, Seattle, WA 98101-1409. Jeremy and Joel had the very tasty corned beef sandwiches, while I tried the pulled pork bbq sandwich. Both were very tasty.

From there, we headed to Feierabend. Jer and Joel drank beer, while Gravity and I sat and hung out. It was a very nice day.

Jeremy grilled up some salmon and I made some no bake peanut butter oatmeal cookies.

Today, Jeremy started his training for STP. While he was up and about, I washed a couple of loads of laundry and dishes. I also took the recycling out and sent out some bills. Jeremy managed to lock himself out of his car, so I headed out to rescue him with the extra set of keys.

I then drove home and made a batch of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies to take to the club. We watched the gold medal match of the women's worlds, Germany vs Scotland. Germany took the gold.

Its just been trying to tidy up my mess. There's still a crapload of dishes to wash, and I am tired.

Talked to Maya briefly about her trip to artfest. Apparently someone approached her, thinking she was me. The person mentioned she still has the stuffed owl that I made for trades 2 years ago. Pretty cool...

Power evenings..

I would love an evening to decompress. Just sit and veg out. Probably not going to happen until this weekend at the very least.

Since I've been home I've accomplished this list of things:

1. Cooked dinner
2. Washed 2 loads of laundry
3. Folded and put away 1.5 loads of laundry
4. Watched an episode of Numb3rs
5. Emptied out the closet in my craft room.
6. Fed the beagle her dinner and meds.

Things that still need to be done

1. Wash dishes
2. Fold and put away 1 load of laundry
3. Play with the beagle
4. Throw away some old junk

Bathrooms under construction

The two bathrooms in my house are currently under construction.

Here is a photo of the main bathroom.

Back from 2010 Nationals

I am back from 2010 Nationals. Made some friends and learned a lot about curling.Had some good times.

On to the next adventure : The Tankard!!

Hurry Hard!!!

It's 5:47 PM...

I think I've just finished packing.

I moved all the bathroom items from the hallway bathroom.

Just need to move my craft stuff.

Then on to the plane ride to Kalamazoo!

Men's Gold Medal Curling and Jill Officer

This weekend was fantastic. My husband was the best, scoring me a ticket to see the Men's Bronze Curling match. He stood in the rain for an hour, before being let into the Vancouver Curling Club....

Afterwards, we saw the Men's Gold curling match. Seeing Kevin Martin's rink play in person is just incredible.

On the way out, we managed to snag a photo with Jill Officer. Jill is very sweet and personable.

I'm feeling a little under the weather today. Mustered up some energy to try a new type of apple, called Lady Alice. Very tasty. Crunchy, sweet, and a little tart.

Sooo busy.I hope I don't get worse. We're heading out for nationals on the Thursday red eye.

Olympic Plush Challenge Submission

This is sandie the penguin. She kept seeing all of these visitors that were talking about the olympics. One day, she snuck out and found a keeper watching figure skating on tv. Sandie became entranced by it.

She wanted shoes of her own, but couldn't find any. She found some white children boots and jammed her webbed feet into them. Back in the penguin enclave, she pretends to glide around, with an occasional triple spin jump.

The visitors noticed sandie and her antics, and the penguin exhibit has become one of the most popular exhibits at our local zoo...

Plush Olympic Challenge from Schmancy

What was I thinking when I signed up for this? I know, I know. I really wanted to participate, but I have almost zero free time this month. *sigh*

My task is to create a plush something or other in the category of figure skating. The due date is Feb 26th. Today is Feb 24th. Eek!

The reason why I'm so busy, is I've been busy trying to squeeze some practice in before I head off to the US Women's Curling Nationals in Kalamazoo, MI from March 6-14th. Between getting practice in, there are regular game days, paying attention to my hubby and my beagle, and getting in some housework and chores. I also have my regular day job as quality assurance (software tester). February is especially trying, because I have tickets to the Olympics. Last Saturday we saw the women's qualifiers (curling). This Saturday I get to see the men's gold match.

I originally wanted to make a plushie figure skating octopus. I had a whole story created for him too. I'm having to change it to a penguin. This is what has been created so far,and it has all been hand sewn. Crossing fingers that I get this completed before Friday.

Oh yeah, to all the plush people, here's a shameless plug for my curling team. We're trying to win a sponsorship from Prilosec OTC for $1000. Votes/popularity count in the final decision. You can login and vote every day. If you could just login and vote once, I'd really appreciate it. Team Hambley is listed in the sports section here : http://www.officialsponsor.com/applications/view/1501

Trip to the Olympics!

I went with my husband to the Vancouver Centre to watch the Saturday 2 pm women's qualifiers draw. It was a pretty awesome draw to go to. There were two games with extra ends - USA Vs Great Britain and China Vs Germany. Both USA and China won.

It was very exciting to attend. Canada was not playing this draw so the crowd chanted loudly for USA.

If you can make it to Vancouver, I highly recommend it. I'll try and post a few photos when I get home. I managed to snag some photos of the teams during their practices.

Next Sarturday my husband and I will be headed to watch the Men's Gold.

Best hubby in the world

I have got the best hubby in the world. He recently got me a new battery for my MacBook Pro! I can go around without being beholden to a charger again!

Today I got a hair cut during lunch. I don't think Jer likes it. Its okay. I always forget how much I hate bangs until I get them. However, I haven't changed my hair in 3 years so needed something different. Back to the drawing board I guess.

By the way, thanks to everyone for voting for Team Hambley to win a Prilosec OTC sponsorship. We are in 2nd place on the sports page with 576 votes. We are 125 votes away from Old Guy Who Wants to Play His Favorite Sport. Keep voting! You can login and vote once a day!

http://www.officialsponsor.com/applications/view/1501

Curling, curling everywhere!

It seems like everyone is getting into curling with the Olympics! On Saturday February 14th, the Simpsons had an episode where Homer and Marge were participating in the Olympics as a Mixed Doubles team (Mixed Doubles is currently not an Olympic event). Weeks before that, the Olympic men's team Shuster has appeared on various shows such as Jay Leno and one with Stephen Colbert.

This morning, as I went to Google, I discovered their image today is celebrating curling! Yay.

Agile NW Conference

Attending the Agile NW Conference, courtesy of the company that I work at.

In the morning they started off with breakfast and opening ceremonies. Breakfast was full of carb-o-licious food I had to avoid. Pastries galore and beverages full of sugar. There was also a big huge bowl of fruit and large containers of coffee and hot water.

Opening ceremonies explained how open spaces forum worked. People put the topic that they wanted to present or discuss on a piece of paper with their name (they would run it) and then go to the microphone to announce it. I'm used to being in a class of people where no one raises their hand. There was a rush to pen and paper and topics spilling to both Tuesday and Wednesday were posted.

My two favorite sessions were my first two sessions. Both of them were interactive. Diana L presented "Where's My Key", about learning languages. She taught sign language, a kind of pidgin english. Today I still remember the items she taught us: What's that?, a stick, a rock, a black pen, a red pen, and one dollar.

The second session was presented by Chris Sims. He had three different agile 'games'. One where we estimated how many invitations we could make, the second passing around baseballs, and the third estimating how long it would take to eat various pieces of fruit.

Today, headed towards Day Two.

Thank you for voting! We still need more votes!!

Thanks to everyone for taking the 2 minutes out of their day to vote for my curling team, Team Hambley, on the Prilosec OTC official sponsorship page.

We are currently sitting in 3rd place for the most votes in the sports section with 298 votes. 34 votes away from 2nd place.

You can login to vote every day. The first day of judging is Feb 22nd, and that date is closing in fast. If you can talk your significant other, your friends and coworkers to voting for us at least once, we appreciate every vote!

Thanks again!

http://www.officialsponsor.com/applications/view/1501

The video isn't working on our application page yet, but the tech folks at Prilosec OTC are working on fixing it.

You can also catch it here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyQxHn6ThOA

Mixed Spiel done.

The 2010 Mixed Spiel is done. My team won the first two games, then lost with the last shot in the 8th end. My skip needed to hit and stick, and the rock over curled.

Today, my hubby took me to Mae's Cafe for breakfast. I had the Popeye omelet : Bacon, spinach, and some swiss cheese. I wasn't about to eat hashbrowns, so I agreed to grits on the side. I took one spoonful and decided that I don't like grits.

After breakfast we headed to the club for practice. The finals hadn't started yet. I ended up subbing on Charlie Smith's team, and we beat the opposing team 9 - 1 after 4 ends. The other team decided to shake.

Jeremy got a little practice in, working on his out turn. Then we stayed around to socialize and watch the final Scotties game, where Jennifer Jones took her 3rd championship in a row, beating out PEI.

2010 Mixed Spiel Game 1

Team Calcagno won game one of the mixed spiel. The beginning of the game was as little rocky, but we finally settled down in the last three ends to take control.

Our next game is at 11:30 am against Beth and Sara's mixed team.

Toast to the Senior Women's National Champions!

Prilosec OTC sponsorship : Please vote for Team Hambley!

I submitted an application to Prilosec OTC for a sponsorship for my curling team. They approved it the other day. Now its up to people voting and the judges review of my submission.

You need to register before you can vote. You can vote with the same email address once a day. Please vote!

http://www.officialsponsor.com/applications/view/1501

Thanks so much.

Two national titles on the same day!

Saturday, January 30, 2010, the Vukich rink won the US Women's National title and the Beighton rink won the US Junior Men's National title. The Vukich rink is headed to Russia for World playdowns, and has the oldest woman to win a national title Betty Kozai at age 81. The Beighton rink will be headed to Switzerland.

On a not as exciting note, my team had a fun time playing in the Washington State Mixed playdowns, but did not make it to Nationals. Our third game of the day did not matter. Team Guzman and Team Lehto had some fun, only playing to 4 ends. A couple of new rules : only 2 takes outs were allowed, and a mulligan (where the skip flashed his shot) was repeated.

After the 2nd end, we all stacked brooms and had a shot of Sambuca. I (having made it to the 8th day of the South Beach diet - no carbs, no sugar, no alcohol) had to pass. Team Lehto had participated in some serious pre-funking before our game. Darren had a couple of falls, one incredibly spectacular fall, in which he managed to turtle back and not hit his head. Patti from Team Lehto, and Benj our skip also managed to fall.

I'm not so sure it was a good thing going into a competition without eating complex carbs. Having lost five pounds last week and knowing I was on day 8 also made it hard for me to cave. I settled on eating a spoonful of peanut butter during a 5th end break.

Today is day 9. That means only 6 more days before I go into Phase 2. There have been a few accidental cheats along the way. A couple of small carrots from a strained chicken noodle soup. Half a crouton on a salad, where the croutons had to be picked off. I have managed to avoid several temptations.

I avoided Tim Bits that the hubby brought home on day one. I also was very sad not to attend Baconpalooza night last Monday, courtesy of Team Beth C/Enns. I avoided all the baked goods brought into work on top of the company lunch ...pizza.

This 2nd time around, the South Beach diet has been much harder. I've been tired, irritable, and fuzzy headed. Ketosis? Maybe. I'm waiting for the cravings of sugar and starches to stop, which is what Phase 1 is supposed to accomplish. At this time, I would be incredibly happy with an apple and half a piece of whole wheat bread with some peanut butter on it.

Mixed Playdowns this weekend!

This weekend are the Mixed Playdowns at the Seattle Granite Curling Club. My team is playing at 9 am, 2 pm, and 7 pm. I am up at 6:15 am to prep breakfast and to try to wake up. It is too early. Meh.

Last weekend was the Women's Bonspiel at the club. My team, comprising of Lysa Hambley, Em Good, Beth C, Sara Skulec, and myself won the C bracket. We won our first game on Saturday, lost our 2nd game which dropped us to the C bracket, and then won the next 3 games. We played a total of 3 games on Saturday and 2 games on Sunday. Our prize: a champagne goblet with Seattle Granite etched in it and a bottle of wine.

I'm always happy to win, but the only time I've won money is with Jeremy at last year's Novice spiel in Langley. I've won a pin, a bronze medal, drink tickets, and now, a bottle of wine and a champagne goblet. Next year, my plans are to be in the money. :D

I've been terribly cranky and tired since last Saturday. I went on the South Beach diet to lose about 10 lbs before the US Women's Nationals. No simple carbs and refined sugars. Gah. This 2nd time of being on the diet has been much harder than the first time.

Of course, it is also curling season, where all sorts of tasty carbs: breads and desserts are paraded in front of me. Sigh. 5 lbs down. 5 lbs to go before I start phase 2. Here's hoping I can hold to it with three 10 end games coming up today.

My next sport to participate in?

Came across this on my RSS feed. Looks like FUN!!

http://emeraldcitytrapeze.com/

Chocolate for choice, year 3

Thursday was an interesting day.

My friend Maya and I stopped by the Crawfish King and had a spicy Gulf Shrimp dinner before heading to the Chocolate for Choice event held by Naral.

I accidentally bumped my bench back into the table behind me. Because of it, I ended up having a 5 minute conversation with the older couple sitting there. They were very eager to talk about the different restaurants they had eaten at in the Seattle area, and the woman said how she used to volunteer at Naral many years ago.

We met Jonna and Lisa at Safeco Field. Inside we were browsing the silent auctions. I snagged a table for us (there were only 3 tables this year). Jonna bought a round of wine. We filled our plates full of chocolate and I placed a bid on an item in the silent auction, which I eventually won. Two 4 week lessons for learning to row for crew at Lake Union.

I went to buy the next round of wine and ended up being carded. When I brought out my license, the bartender looked at the date, looked at me and exclaimed, "Lookin' goooood!"

On the way home, I was driving behind a bus. The bus stopped less than a mile from my house. Two high school boys dropped off, threw their skateboards on the ground in front of them, then proceeded to pee in some poor homeowner's yard.

An interesting day.

Trip to the dentist.

I went to the dentist's office last week.

I had a fantastic visit. I warned they hygienist that I was tired and that I might fall asleep. However, I was also worried that I wouldn't be able to keep my mouth open.

She came up with a great solution. There was a little foam block that she found. We wedged it between my molars to keep my mouth open. I must have been really tired, because I DID fall asleep for about half an hour.

Crazy.

Fruity Moti Bars

I've baked a total of 3 recipes from the Cookie Book I borrowed from the library. The Apricot Chews are my favorite so far.

1/2 cup finely cut dried apricots
1/2 cup raisins
1/3 cup water
1 cup All purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon soda
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup drained crushed pineapple
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Confectioner's sugar

Oven 350 degrees (makes 24 bars --how tiny are the bars supposed to be??)

In large saucepan combine apricots, raisins and water. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally until water is absorbed. Cool slightly.

Add remaining ingredients except confectioner's sugar. Blend well. Spread in greased 9 inch square pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. While warm, cut in bars. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.


I also made these the day before.

Split Levels

Chocolate Fillng:
1 cup (6 oz package) semi sweet chocolate pieces
1 (3 oz) package cream cheese
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons sesame seed
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Crumb Crust:
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter softened
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Oven 375 degrees (makes 24 bars)

In saucepan combine chocolate, cream cheese and milk. Melt over low heat stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in remaining filling ingredients. Blend well. Set aside.

In large mixer bowl combine all crust ingredients. Blend well with mixer until particles are fine.

Press half of crumb crust mixture in greased 11x17 pan. Spread with filling. Sprinkle rest of crumbs over filling.

Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes. Cool

Cyndy's Side Comments so far:
I don't think this recipe is really for an 11 x 17 pan. I ended up having to make a double batch of crust. Waiting for it to finish baking....

Beagles and beer

Here is Jeremy's cousin Brian's beagle, Jessie.

They were having a little bit of fun with her. Jessie doesn't look like she is enjoying her costume.

1967 Maple Peanut Yummies

Can the 1967 Pillsbury's Bake-Off Cookie Book stand the test of time?

Maple Peanut Yummies

1 3/4 cups Pillsbury's Best All Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup crunch peanut butter
1/3 cup maple syrup (note, do NOT use syrup that expired 2 years ago)
1 egg

Oven 350 degrees F.

In a large mixer bowl combine all ingredients. Blend well with mixer.
Shape into balls using a rounded teaspoon for each. Place on ungreased cookie sheets; flatten with a fork, criss-cross fashion.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool. Makes 48 to 54 cookies.

Edited:
12 minutes later. Cookies are a little dry and need a little more sugar or maple syrup.

First big foosball win against the hubby!!

Woot!

I got my first big foosball win against my hubby today. There was NO handicap! Yeah....

On another note, I found a new favorite mashup to walk the dog to by DJ Earworm http://djearworm.com/. United State of Pop 2009 (Blame it on the pop)

Team Hambley photo

Skip : Lysa Hambley
Vice-Skip : Em Good
2nd: Beth Coffin
Lead: Cyndy Eng-Dinsel
5th: Sara Skulec

Twas a weekend of curling!!

Had a fantastic weekend of curling. I am now paying for it by drinking cups of coffee to stay awake.

Saturday Beth, Sara and I drove up to Langley for some practice ice. We stopped off in Bellingham at Davinci's for some tasty philly cheesesteaks Nom Nom Nom. For those of you that are curious, Davinci's is located here:

1480 Electric Ave
Bellingham, WA 9822

I highly recommend the cheesesteak with hot sauce and cherry peppers.

At Langley we talked with Larry, the weekend ice maker and Allison. Allison swung by to open the store for us. I was a little sad. They were out of the gloves that I wanted and the horse hair broom heads.

Sunday Team Hambley, minus the Lysa and Em, played against Team Guzman, the team my husband is playing down with for Washington's Club National berth. It started out fantastic, with us scoring 3 in the first end. The second end was atrocious giving up 6 because I missed putting up a guard. We needed two sweepers to get the rock over the hog line. It was close, but not enough.

We left Gravity at home alone during our scrimmage. When we got home, she was stressed out, like she had a seizure, but we did not see the tell tale signs. Foam from foaming at the mouth. She got a nice walk after I got home.

After the walk, it was back to the club for our Mixed game. We ended up playing the full 8 ends and winning. I was pretty happy with how I played. Its nice curling again, after all that time being sick and time off due to holiday breaks.

Wish List/Want List

Want List
1. Dust Buster (Hand vaccuum)
2. Sweater Drying Rack for drip dry
3. Wireless headset for the iPhone (that doesn't stick into the ear like the ear buds that come with the iPhone eek)
4. Cheap headset to listen to music at work - just busted mine.
5. New pair of curling pants.
7. New pair of sneakers
8. Wine (cellar is empty)

Wish List
1. Trip to Europe/Asia
2. New Laptop
3. New iPhone
4. Digital SLR


Not really in any particular order. Not from any particular person. Just a place holder for myself.

Won our first bottle of wine in women's!

Team Hambley won our first bottle of wine Wednesday night, for the last double of the early draw.

We also beat the team 9-3 in 7 ends.

Happy Holidays

I've had a pretty good holiday weekend.

Friday morning I took Gravity for a short walk before heading to Anacortes for a holiday brunch at Jeremy's aunt and uncle's. Gravity managed to briefly tag a Red Breasted Sapsucker. This particular bird is in the woodpecker family. First time I've ever seen one of these birds locally. Gravity did not kill it, but did manage to stun it.

We had a fun time hanging out with Jeremy's relatives. Gravity got a chance to hang out with her beagle cousin Jessie.

We left a little late to head to my family's holiday dinner in Sammamish. There was tasty food here and a game of mahjong in one corner of the house, and bingo in another corner.

Saturday, Jeremy headed up to Bellingham to hang out with his cousin Jeff. I stayed home, went shopping for our women's team curling jackets, went to the curling club and did a little bartending.

Today I caught the 2nd half of the juniors game and then had a little curling practice with my women's team. A pretty good weekend.

Busy until I got the flu.

Well, I have been so busy I haven't been cooking anything new.

And then probably because I've been so busy, I caught the flu. So not really feeling like moving much or eating. Thankfully I am at the tail end of it.

The one thing I did attempt to cook, was Shamiana's Major Grey Chicken. I picked all my items up from a local Indian grocery store. Turns out I'm allergic to the curry I picked out. I broke out in hives from all of three little spoonfuls (tastings).

Curling Zone App for the iPhone!

http://www.curlingzone.com/forums/showthread.php?s=87c05c42eb1ead735e776ec1e311f1ff&threadid=8476

CurlingZone Mobile. The first dedicated mobile application for curling news, scores, rankings, and more - right on your phone. Now available on the iTunes Store!

Apple Napoleons

I haven't been working much with mixed media or sewing lately. Part of it is because its curling season, and part of it is because I'm interested in cooking/baking right now.
I was thinking I would try to make 1 new recipe every week, but I can't always do that. So, maybe in lieu of working on art, I will cook/bake at least 1 new recipe every 2 weeks. I'll shoot for once a week, but it gets pretty crazy around here.

I made Apple Napoleons today.



Tasted pretty good. The apple was a little overcooked, but I was pretty happy with how they turned out.

Prep Time: 10 min
Total Time: 45 min
Serves: 4

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons sugar
1 sheet frozen puff pastry thawed
all purpose flour for work surface
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 small Granny Smith apples, peeld, cored, and cut lengthwise into 1/3 inch thick wedges
2 cups sweetened whipped cream

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar. Place pastry on a lightly floured work surface. Sprinkle evenly with 2 tablespoons cinnamon mixture. Carefully roll out to 1/8 inch thick. Cut out eight 3 inch squares, and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover with more parchment and another baking sheet. Chill in freezer until firm, about 15 minutes.

2. Bake pastry in oven until crisp and lightly browned, about 30 minutes. Remove top parchment and baking sheet. Transfer with bottom parchment to a wire rack and let cool.

3. Meanwhile in a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium high heat until foam subsides. Add apples, cook, stirring occasionally until golden brown, about 7 minutes. Add remaining cinnamon mixture. Cook until apples are tender but not falling apart. Let cool completely. To assemble, top the pastry with whipped cream the apples; repeat with another layer of each. Serve immediately.

Stinky Pick and the Itchy Butts.

Thursday night I went with my friends Maya, Joe R, and Paula to see Jeff Dunham at the Tacoma Dome.

We got to the Tacoma Dome just before 6:30 pm and there was a line to the parking lot. We drove around them and parked in the free lot a couple of blocks away (thanks to Joe's knowledge of the Tacoma area).

We got on the light rail and took it into downtown Tacoma, where we ate dinner at Harmon's Brew Pub. I had a sampler of beers, Maya had a vanilla porter, and Joe and Paula had a pint of the Pale Ale. The restaurant was super crowded and service was slow. Event when the restaurant emptied out, our server was slow.

After dinner we took the light rail back to the Tacoma Dome. We got their just as the opening act, Brian, The Guitar Guy was finishing up. We got a chance to see the packed arena before Jeff took the stage 15 minutes later.

Jeff opened up with an amusing story of flying to Oregon and there being so much fog that his plane had to land at a small closed airport/airstrip.

After that intro, he started with Walter. Walter is usually my least favorite of his puppets. This time, it ended up being the longest and 2nd best act of the night. There were some politically incorrect jokes about Native American Indians and Indians that were hysterical.

He segued into his bit with Achmed the Dead Terrorist. It started off like most of what I'd seen on TV and You Tube. There were a couple of times that where his ad-lib was so funny, he lost where he was in his act. My favorite was Achmed picking on Brian, the warm up act. Brian came out to play a theme song for Achmed, and Achmed went on about calling him Stinky Pick. Brian was laughing so hard, he kept bringing up his hand to cover his mouth, and then Achmed would go "Ah, smelling your Stinky Pick again..."

Peanut and Jose Jalapeno on a stick came next, but in my opinion it just wasn't as funny.

When Jeff came out for his encore, he came out with Bubba. Bubba was a puppet that I saw Jeff with over 10 years ago. Apparently a group of people had emailed him to bring Bubba. He apologized and said he was going to use a cheat sheet, because he hadn't used Bubba in an act for so long. Much to his surprise, half the audience quoted the Bubba punchlines.

It was a great event to attend!

Picture depicts how I've been feeling recently.

is sad.